JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
47K DEAD IN TURKEY QUAKE-OHIO ONE OF WORST CHEMICAL SPILLS IN HISTORY.
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1
The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which
stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth,
and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make
Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they
shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And
in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people:
all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all
the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that
day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his
rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah,
and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the
governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of
Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2 (WW3 OCCURS WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED)
2
I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the
valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people
(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the
nations, and parted my land.(JERUSALEM)(WW3 STARTS BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS
DIVIDED AND ISRAELIS UPROOTED FROM THEIR GOD GIVIN LAND BRINGS 3 DEAD
BILLION IN WW3)
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
GENESIS 25:20-26
20 And
Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+)
when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of
Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21 And Isaac intreated
the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was
intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the
children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her;
and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the
LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb,
and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND
THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other
people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the
younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME
CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26
And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's
heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was
threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE
THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2
TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN
CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS
JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15
Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell
are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through,
it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under
falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord
GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a
precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not
make haste.17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to
the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the
waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with
death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be
trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall
take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by
night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not
escape.
HOSEA 4:1-3
11 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children
of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the
land,(EARTH) because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God
in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3
Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein
shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of
heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven,
and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I
will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12
And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the
people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume
away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away
in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the
LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand
of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his
neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)
Abbas receives White House
invite while Netanyahu's awaits-PA agrees to yank UN measure, even as
Israel readies to advance settlement package-Facing US pressure,
Ramallah suffices with symbolic Security Council statement panning
settlements, while Israel will agree to halt some, but not all, activity
beyond Green Line-By Jacob Magid-19 February 2023, 8:09 pm
The
Biden administration has managed to coax the Palestinian Authority to
withdraw its support from a UN Security Council resolution calling for
an immediate end to settlement activity, after convincing Israel to
temporarily hold off on a handful of measures meant to further entrench
its presence in the West Bank, four sources told The Times of Israel on
Sunday.However, according to an Israeli official, those measures will
not include holding off on advancing plans for some 10,000 new
settlement homes deep in the West Bank, which will be brought before the
Defense Ministry body responsible for authorizing such construction on
Wednesday and Thursday.Instead, Israel has agreed to not authorize
additional settlement homes for several months — something it was not
intending to do anyway, as the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration
traditionally convenes once every three months, the Israeli official
explained.Israel has also agreed to hold off on demolishing and evicting
Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank for
several months and consented to reduce military incursions into
PA-controlled Area A of the West Bank during that time, two US and
Palestinian officials said, confirming a report in the Walla news
site.Ramallah, in turn, has agreed to withdraw its support for a
Security Council resolution calling for an immediate halt to Israeli
settlement activity, which was supposed to come to a vote on Monday. The
US has instead agreed to back a symbolic, non-binding Presidential
Statements from Security Council members to the same effect, which will
also include a condemnation of terror attacks and violence inflicted on
both sides, two senior UN diplomats said. It would be the first such
statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in nine years.Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also agreed to adopt a US plan to
boost the PA’s security presence in the northern West Bank, where the
IDF increasingly has been operating, sparking deadly clashes with
Palestinians on a regular basis over the past several months.As part of
the effort to bring Abbas on board, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
told him that the US would invite him to meet with US President Joe
Biden at the White House later this year, a Palestinian official
said.Meanwhile, a US official and a Mideast diplomat told The Times of
Israel last week that the Biden administration put on hold plans to
extend a White House invitation to Netanyahu, given concerns over some
of the hardline government’s early policy proposals, and that the US
plans to wait and see how events unfold on the ground during Ramallah
before re-addressing the issue.The commitments mark a modest
breakthrough though, after the Biden administration’s month-long efforts
to urge the Israelis and the Palestinians to take steps to lower
tensions, particularly as the holy Muslim month of Ramadan approaches in
late March.The US has been engaging intensively with Israeli and
Palestinian leaders, given an uptick in violence that has taken the
lives of 11 Israelis in terror attacks and nearly 50 Palestinians since
the start of the year — most of them in clashes with soldiers, but some
in less clear circumstances.While the US was thought to have been making
progress in the effort to coax the sides to pause their controversial
activities beyond the Green Line and in the UN after the visits of White
House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State
Antony Blinken last month, things began to unravel when a Palestinian
terrorist rammed his car into a bus stop in East Jerusalem killing three
people, including 6- and 8-year-old brothers on February 10.Israel
responded days later by approving the legalization of nine outposts —
many of them on private Palestinian land — and green-lighting plans for
some 10,000 settlement homes for advancement this week, in what would be
the largest-ever package of projects ever approved in one sitting.The
PA responded by pushing the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution
condemning the decision. The UAE picked up the gauntlet and drafted a
resolution calling for an immediate halt to settlement activity, putting
the US in an uncomfortable position, as it too had spoken out
aggressively against last Sunday’s decision by Israel.Despite
principally supporting the decision, the Biden administration has long
maintained that the UN is not the right forum for adjudicating the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Blinken appeared to have made progress over
the weekend following calls with Netanyahu and Abbas, in a last-ditch
effort to bring the sides toward a compromise.The high-level engagement
paid off on Sunday, with each side agreeing to come down temporarily
from their initial plans.A Palestinian official clarified that the
situation remained fluid and that Ramallah would “respond to any
unilateral action by Israel.”The US official acknowledged that there was
no set time period for how long the sides would agree to hold off on
steps beyond the Green Line and at the UN, but they said that the
administration would “continue to engage with Israeli and Palestinian
leaders in order to maintain calm and keep prospects for a two-state
solution alive.”
Temple Mount to be shut to Jews at Ramadan’s
end, despite Ben Gvir dissent – report-Far-right national security
minister said to fume at annual arrangement, which he has condemned in
the past as capitulation to terror-By ToI Staff 19 February 2023,
11:27 pm
Despite combative rhetoric from firebrands in the
government, Israel, as in previous years, is set to bar Jews from
entering the Temple Mount holy site during the last 10 days of the
Muslim month of Ramadan, according to a report Sunday.The Kan public
broadcaster cited a stormy meeting held over the weekend regarding the
Israeli policy, which has prohibited non-Muslims from entering the
flashpoint Jerusalem location during the culmination of Ramadan, when
Muslims traditionally sleep at the site that they revere as the Al Aqsa
Mosque compound, or the Noble Sanctuary.With the current government
widely viewed as the most right-wing in Israeli history, the report said
the measure is facing staunch opposition from far-right National
Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a longtime proponent of changing the
current status quo under which Jews are not allowed to pray at the
Temple Mount and face numerous other restrictions on entry.Ben Gvir
reportedly argued during the meeting that the previous big-tent
government “closed the Temple Mount for fewer days than what you want” —
nine versus 10. He also made clear he believes the site, the holiest
place in Judaism, should not be off-limits to Jews at all.Last year, Ben
Gvir and his far-right running mate Bezalel Smotrich — now the finance
minister — slammed the government’s move as a “surrender to
terror.”Nonetheless, the ban on Jewish entry during the last 10 days of
Ramadan seems set to be applied this year too, the report said.The
Muslim holy month has traditionally seen violence spike, in particular
around the Temple Mound, where the situation has been especially
volatile of late. The Mount is the holiest site for Jews, as the
location of two biblical Temples, while the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Mount
is the third holiest shrine in Islam, turning the area into a major
flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Under an arrangement that
has prevailed for decades, Jews and other non-Muslims are permitted to
visit the Temple Mount during certain hours but may not pray there. In
recent years, Jewish religious nationalists, including members of the
new governing coalition, have increasingly visited the site and demanded
equal prayer rights for Jews there, infuriating the Palestinians and
Muslims around the world.In January, Ben Gvir paid a visit to the Temple
Mount — his first since taking office in the new government — leading
to furious condemnations from the Arab world. Jordan summoned Israel’s
ambassador for a dressing down.Later in the month, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu met with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman and
discussed maintaining calm on the Temple Mount. According to media
reports, Netanyahu promised Abdullah that the status quo on the Temple
Mount in Jerusalem would be preserved.Further fueling tensions is Ben
Gvir’s ongoing crackdown in East Jerusalem, which he ordered in response
to recent terror attacks.Last week, Channel 13 reported that Shin Bet
security service chief Ronen Bar had spoken to Ben Gvir and warnied him
that the enforcement operations could provoke further violence.
Security
sources told the channel that they see a spike in violence as a
foregone conclusion, given that efforts to calm tensions in the capital
have failed and noting the approach of Ramadan.
COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL AND THE ENEMIES OF ISRAEL AND THE WEST
EZEKIEL 38:10-19
10
Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same
time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil
thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) I will go up to
the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that
dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither
bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine
hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the
people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle
and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and
Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA)(JORDAN) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND)
with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW
ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come
to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry
away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great
spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus
saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth
safely, shalt thou not know it?
PSALMS 83:3-7 (COUNTRIES AGAINST ISRAEL)(EXCEPT JORDAN)
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7
Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and
Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the
inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
ISRAEL-WEST ENEMIES EZEK 38:4-6,15-19
4
And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD
FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all
thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of
armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them
handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6
Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of
the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with
thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
15 And thou shalt come from
thy place out of the north parts,(RUSSIA-ARAB/MUSLIMS) thou, and many
people with thee,(AFRICAN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES) all of them riding upon
horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up
against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be
in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the
heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before
their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have
spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which
prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against
them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall
come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall
come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath
have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the
land of Israel;
DANIEL 11:44 (CHINA WITH RUSSIA-MUSLIMS)
44 But
tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS
WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL)
therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to
make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
EZEKIEL 39:1-6 ISRAELS ENEMIES DESTROYED
1
Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and
say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the
chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will
turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the
sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I
BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA)
and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4
Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,(
ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the
ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be
devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6
And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them
that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the
LORD.
Iran said on cusp of ability to make nukes, having enriched
uranium to 84% purity-Report says inspectors from UN atomic agency made
discovery last week, are probing if move was intentional; Tehran
previously known to have enriched to 60%-By ToI Staff and Agencies 19
February 2023, 10:44 pm
Inspectors from the UN atomic agency
discovered uranium enriched to 84-percent purity in Iran last week,
closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, Bloomberg reported Sunday,
citing two unnamed senior diplomats.Iran has been known thus far to have
enriched uranium to 60%. A purity of 90% is needed to produce nuclear
weapons.International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are trying to
determine whether Tehran deliberately made the move or if it was an
“unintended accumulation within the network of pipes connecting the
hundreds of fast-spinning centrifuges used to separate the isotopes,”
the report said.One diplomat said that Iran had not submitted the
necessary paperwork to declare its intention of raising enrichment
levels at two nuclear facilities in Natanz and Fordo.The other diplomat
noted that even if the material built up accidentally, as has happened
in the past, it shows the problems associated with Iran’s activities in
producing highly enriched uranium.The IAEA said in a tweet that it was
“aware of recent media reports relating to uranium enrichment levels in
Iran.”Director-General Rafael Grossi noted that the agency was in talks
with Iran regarding the results of recent inspections, the tweet added.
The IAEA is aware of recent media reports relating to uranium enrichment
levels in Iran. Director General @rafaelmgrossi states that the IAEA is
discussing with Iran the results of recent Agency verification
activities and will inform the IAEA Board of Governors as appropriate.
pic.twitter.com/4Aqdq01Xr5 — IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency
⚛️ (@iaeaorg) February 19, 2023-The report did not say where the highly
enriched material was found.It came after last month’s unannounced
inspection at the Fordo nuclear site, which found two advanced
centrifuges connected in a way that the Iranians had not declared to
inspectors. Iran said it provided “explanations” to the inspector who
reported the change and that he then “realized his mistake.”In a joint
response at the time, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and
Germany dismissed Iran’s claim as “inadequate.”On March 6, the IAEA
will present its quarterly safeguards report on Iran to its board of
directors when they meet in Vienna.In January, Grossi told European
Parliament lawmakers Iran had “amassed enough nuclear material for
several nuclear weapons — not one at this point.”Speaking about Iran’s
recent atomic activities, including enriching uranium well beyond the
limits of the landmark 2015 deal to curb its nuclear capabilities —
Grossi said Tehran’s trajectory “is certainly not a good one.”The deal
with world powers, known as the JCPOA, collapsed after the United States
withdrew from it in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump. The JCPOA
gave Iran sanctions relief in return for the curbs and inspections of
its nuclear facilities. After Washington withdrew, claiming the deal did
not go far enough in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,
the Iranians dropped many of their own commitments to the pact and
ramped up uranium enrichment. The deal had set a maximum enrichment
threshold of 3.67%.Negotiations that started in April 2021 to revive the
agreement have since stalled.Iran said in November it had begun
producing uranium enriched to 60% at Fordo, an underground facility that
reopened three years ago after the breakdown of the JCPOA.
US
says China mulling exporting weapons to Russia for Ukraine war-Secretary
of State Blinken says Beijing supplying Moscow with arms would ’cause a
serious problem’ with consequences-By AFP-19 February 2023, 6:52 pm
WASHINGTON
— US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that China was
considering providing weapons to Russia in its war against Ukraine,
warning Beijing that any supplies would “cause a serious problem.”“The
concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re
considering providing lethal support,” Blinken told CBS’s “Face The
Nation.”Asked what lethal support would entail, he said “everything from
ammunition to the weapons themselves.”Blinken made similar comments in a
series of interviews with American television from Germany, where on
Saturday he attended the Munich Security Conference and met with his
Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.He told Wang then that “if China provides
material support to Russia or assistance with systemic sanctions
evasion,” there will be consequences, a State Department official
said.Strained ties-Taken together, the US comments appeared to be among
the clearest warnings yet that China might be poised to go beyond
rhetorical, political, or diplomatic support for Russia and be ready to
help arm it in its nearly year-old fight against Ukraine.They also came
at a time when already strained US-Chinese relations have been further
tested by Washington’s shooting down of what it said was a large Chinese
spy balloon.Appearing Sunday on ABC, Blinken emphasized that US
President Joe Biden had warned his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, as
long ago as last March against sending weapons to Russia.Since that
time, “China has been careful not to cross that line, including by
holding off on selling lethal weapons systems for use on the
battlefield,” according to an administration source familiar with the
issue.A top Republican senator who also attended the Munich conference,
Lindsey Graham, said it would be a serious mistake for China to provide
Russia with weapons.Doing so now, he said, would be “dumber than dirt.
It would be like buying a ticket on the Titanic after you saw the
movie.”‘No apology’Graham, known as a well-informed foreign policy hawk,
also said he had strong indications that the US will soon announce
plans to train Ukrainian fighter pilots, which would represent a further
step in the West’s gradually escalating efforts to arm Ukraine.Graham
said he believed the US should declare Russia a state sponsor of terror
for its actions in Ukraine — which would mean that China or any other
country supplying it with arms would face sanctions.Blinken’s meeting
with Wang — the highest-level encounter between the countries since US
jets shot down the Chinese balloon on February 4 — did not appear to
ease tensions.“I told him quite simply that that was unacceptable and
can never happen again,” Blinken told CBS about the balloon
incident.Wang on Saturday dismissed the US allegations of high-altitude
spying in uncharacteristically strong language, calling them “hysterical
and absurd.”Blinken said Sunday that his counterpart had offered him
“no apology.”The tough-sounding exchanges came a day after US Vice
President Kamala Harris said in Munich that Russia had committed “crimes
against humanity” in Ukraine through “widespread and systemic” attacks
on the country’s civilian population.
Russia condemns Israeli
strike on Syria as ‘flagrant violation’ of international law-Moscow
urges Jerusalem to ‘refrain from steps that are fraught with dangerous
consequences for the entire region,’ after attack on Damascus leaves 5
dead-By Emanuel Fabian-19 February 2023, 6:13 pm
Russia on Sunday
condemned an airstrike blamed on Israel that killed five people and
injured 15 in Syria’s capital Damascus the previous night.Moscow, a key
backer of the Syrian regime in the over decade-long civil war, called
the Saturday night attack on the Kafar Sousah neighborhood in Damascus a
“flagrant violation” of international law.Israel’s need to coordinate
with Russia — which largely controls Syrian airspace — to carry out
strikes has been cited as a chief reason for Jerusalem’s reluctance to
supply Kyiv with weaponry amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Israel
has found itself at odds with Russia as it increasingly supported
Ukraine while seeking to maintain freedom of movement in Syria’s
skies.“We strongly urge the Israeli side to stop armed provocations
against the Syrian Arab Republic and refrain from steps that are fraught
with dangerous consequences for the entire region,” Russian foreign
ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, according to Reuters.There
was no comment from the Israel Defense Forces, in line with its policy
of not generally commenting on air raids in Syria. Israeli officials
have previously said the IDF does not target civilians and seeks to
avoid damage to residential areas as much as possible.Syria’s state news
agency SANA reported that the strike in Kafar Sousah killed four
civilians and one soldier, and wounded another 15 civilians. It said
several of those wounded were listed in critical condition.The airstrike
also inflicted heavy damage on a number of residential buildings in
Kafar Sousah, SANA said. According to Reuters, the targeted area was
near a large and heavily guarded security complex and close to Iranian
installations.Imad Mughniyeh, a notorious Hezbollah terror chief, was
allegedly assassinated by Israel in a 2008 bombing in Kafar Sousah,
close to where Saturday night’s strike took place.Orient News, a Syrian
opposition media outlet, claimed the strikes targeted Iranian militia
officials at the so-called Iranian school in Kafar Sousah.Separately,
the Israeli jets targeted Iranian and Syrian regime military sites near
Damascus International Airport, as well as in Sitt Zaynab and al-Kiswah,
a town and a city just south of the capital, Orient News said.The
outlet also claimed the damage to the residential buildings in Kafar
Sousah was caused by a misfired Syrian anti-aircraft missile, not an
Israeli strike.SANA claimed Syrian air defenses managed to intercept
“most” of the missiles launched by IAF jets from over the Golan Heights
in the strike. Syria regularly claims to intercept Israeli missiles,
though military analysts doubt such assertions. If this geolocation is
accurate, the #Damascus strike was almost exactly where Imad Mughniyeh
was killed in 2008. Barely 100 metres to the west #Syria
https://t.co/YKXA0oivJ9 pic.twitter.com/QZNbSIfk6L — Alex Rowell
(@alexjrowell) February 19, 2023-Though Israel’s military does not
comment on specific strikes in Syria, it has acknowledged conducting
hundreds of sorties against Iran-backed groups attempting to gain a
foothold in the country over the last decade.The IDF says it also
attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for those groups, chief
among them Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror organization. Additionally,
airstrikes attributed to Israel have repeatedly targeted Syrian air
defense systems.Last week, the Saudi-owned Elaph news site cited an
Israeli military official as saying if Iran shipped weapons to its
regional proxies under the guise of humanitarian aid to Syria following
the major earthquake there, the IDF would not hesitate to strike.The
unnamed official said “there is information indicating that Iran will
take advantage of the tragic situation in Syria” and ship weapons to
Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups in Syria.Several Iranian cargo
planes carrying aid have landed in Syria since a major earthquake struck
the country and areas in southeast Turkey on February 6.In recent
years, several airstrikes against alleged Iranian weapon shipments
disguised as seemingly harmless products have been attributed to Israel,
including one incident last month.Generally, relatively large weapons
are thought to be smuggled via Syria on Iranian cargo airlines, which
frequently land at Damascus International and the Tiyas, or T-4,
airbase, outside of the central Syrian city of Palmyra.The weaponry is
then believed to be stored in warehouses in the area before being
transported to Lebanon.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
With
its envoy booted, Israel avoids African Union summit closing
ceremony-Sharon Bar-li was escorted out of regional assembly on
Saturday, apparently at behest of South Africa and Algeria, as Israel’s
status continues to split 55-member bloc-By Lazar Berman-19 February
2023, 6:01 pm
After its observer delegation was kicked out of the
African Union summit opening ceremony in Addis Ababa on Saturday,
Israel will stay away from the closing ceremony Sunday evening, an
Israeli diplomatic official told The Times of Israel.Also Sunday, South
Africa’s governing African National Congress party welcomed the
“encouraging” expulsion of Sharon Bar-li, Israel’s Foreign Ministry
deputy director general for Africa.Israel blamed the incident on Algeria
and South Africa, and will summon the latter country’s charge
d’affaires to the Foreign Ministry for a reprimand from Director General
Ronen Levy. However, the African Union said Sunday that Israel’s
observer status at the bloc had been suspended pending a discussion on
its continued role as observer, and therefore it had not been invited to
the weekend summit.Vincent Magwenya, spokesman for South African
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was present at the summit, demanded that
Israel “substantiate their claim.”The ANC said her removal was aimed at
“thwarting an attempt to undermine the current sitting AU Summit from
considering a report that is supposed to guide discussions on whether
Israel must be granted an observer status.”Last week, Algerian Foreign
Minister Ramtane Lamamra flew to South Africa to coordinate ahead of the
summit, according to Algerian outlets.Israeli sources said the
countries were discussing ways to boot Israel, as well as their support
for Western Sahara’s Polisario Front, which is fighting for Sahrawi
independence from Morocco.The issue of Israel’s observer status has
caused deep discord in the 55-member bloc.
Israel was granted
observer status in 2021, but at last year’s summit, a debate on the
issue was suspended in a bid to avoid a vote that would create an
unprecedented rift in the Union. The AU chairman created a six-country
committee to examine the issue.Israel and its allies in the organization
say that its observer status was never rescinded, but its foes, backed
by AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat, argue that it is suspended
until the committee comes back with a recommendation.“That means that
the status is suspended until such time as this committee can
deliberate… and so we did not invite Israeli officials to our summit,”
Faki told reporters on Sunday, adding that an investigation was being
conducted-The spokesperson for the chairman of the AU Commission Ebba
Kalondo also said the expelled Israeli diplomat had not been personally
invited to the summit.An Israeli diplomatic spokesperson insisted Bar-li
had “valid accreditation as an observer,” accusing the AU of being
“hostage to a small number of extremist states like Algeria and South
Africa, motivated by hatred and controlled by Iran.”Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Lior Hayat said, “Israel views seriously the incident in
which the deputy for Africa, Ambassador Sharon Bar-li, was removed from
the African Union hall despite her status as an accredited observer with
access badges.”“There is no basis in the organization’s rules for the
attempt to cancel Israel’s observer status,” the Foreign Ministry said.
“There is a clear majority that supports Israel’s observer status at the
organization.”AFP contributed to this report.
Bills to ban
hametz, expand powers of rabbinic courts breeze through committee-AG
comes out against proposal criminalizing bringing leavened goods into
hospitals during Passover; groups representing ‘chained’ women oppose
letting rabbis adjudicate civil cases
By Judah Ari Gross-19 February 2023, 4:30 pm
Two
contentious religion-and-state bills were approved by the Ministerial
Committee for Legislation on Sunday, one forbidding bringing leavened
goods into public hospitals during the Passover holiday and another
expanding the powers of rabbinic courts.Both government-sponsored bills
have met fierce resistance, including from some religious groups, seeing
them as likely to antagonize Israelis against Judaism.The bill banning
the entrance of leavened goods, or hametz, during Passover was also
opposed by the Attorney General’s Office, which found that in its
current form the legislation goes too far and would be difficult to
defend in court.With their approval by the committee, the two bills will
proceed to the Knesset, where they are likely to pass, though they
could still undergo slight changes.Tying the bills to the government’s
planned judicial overhaul, MK Moshe Gafni, of the Ashkenazi
ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism, who was behind both bills, said
they were necessary to combat rulings by the High Court of Justice,
which prevented hospitals from forbidding people from bringing in
leavened goods during Passover and prevented state-run rabbinic courts
from adjudicating civil disputes, respectively.“This is further proof of
where the Supreme Court has come in intervening in issues that are not
under its purview. Today, we are fixing that with legislation that will
be brought to a vote later this week in the plenary of the Knesset,”
Gafni said.Opposition MKs lambasted the bills, calling them “religious
coercion” and “pure provocation.”“The hametz law and the law expanding
the authorities of the rabbinic courts that were approved by the
Ministerial Committee for Legislation today are just the start of the
wave of unprecedented religious coercion,” said Labor MK and Reform
Rabbi Gilad Kariv.He too tied this legislation to the government’s
planned judicial overhaul, saying that more changes to
religion-and-state would come “once the legal advisers and courts are
dramatically weakened.”Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky said the
hametz bill was unnecessary and counterproductive, calling it “a finger
in the eye and pure provocation.”“Just like there’s no law against
driving on Yom Kippur, but people still respect it and don’t drive on
that day, so too with hametz. Now people will purposefully try to bring
in and sneak in hametz to hospitals,” she said.For years, hospitals and
other public institutions banned hametz during the week-long Passover
holiday — when Jews traditionally refrain from eating leavened goods —
with some even instructing guards to search people’s bags for forbidden
foods at the doors. But in 2020, the High Court of Justice declared that
hospitals could not conduct such invasive searches — after years of
pushing the government to find some compromise or pass some legislation
on the issue — and last year the court issued a similar ruling regarding
army bases.The legislation approved by the committee Sunday — proposed
by Gafni, as well as fellow UTJ members Yaakov Asher and Yitzhak Pindrus
— would not only permit public hospitals to ban hametz, but would
require them to do so.“During the period of Passover, no hametz or other
food — other than that which is in line with the directives set by the
Chief Rabbinate of Israel — will be allowed in or held in a medical
facility,” the bill reads.In an opinion, two legal advisers from the
Attorney General’s Office warned that the bill “as it is written today
raises significant legal difficulties,” as it would not only ban
leavened foods but all foods, save for fresh produce and packaged foods
marked “kosher for Passover,” which would infringe on the rights of
patients and their guests — and, because it would force hospital
security guards to do something they were not hired to do, infringing on
their rights as well.The legal advisers recommend further consideration
“to find alternative solutions that would fulfill the underlying goals
of the bill but without the state unnecessarily infringing on [civil]
rights.”For example, they suggested limiting the law to only apply to
leavened goods like bread as opposed to all food, or leaving the
legislation more ambiguous to allow the hospitals and the Chief
Rabbinate to determine how to proceed on a case-by-case basis.Ne’emanei
Torah Va’Avodah, a liberal Orthodox group, decried the bill, as well as
the decision to bring it for a vote during a particularly strained
period when there are deep divisions within the population over the
government’s proposed judicial overhaul.“The decision to specifically
bring the hametz law to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation now,
instead of lowering the flames, is not expected to add any honor to the
coming Passover holiday but will instead increase the fighting,” the
group wrote.“There are a number of solutions that do not require peeking
around in people’s personal bags, as was done in different hospitals in
the past. Laws like this that impose religion and get into people’s
personal lives never bring people closer to Judaism and they are
ultimately a boomerang that weakens the Judaism of the state,” it
said.Opposition MK Matan Kahana, a former religious services minister,
has ridiculed the bill, saying it will almost surely have the opposite
effect, with people intentionally bringing in leavened products as a
challenge to the law.“If you want to ensure that people will bring
hametz into hospitals, please accept Gafni’s request,” Kahana wrote in a
tweet when the law was first proposed.The second bill approved by the
committee would expand the powers of state-run rabbinic courts, giving
them the authority to again hear civil cases.Until 2006, state-run
rabbinic courts could hear such cases — disputes between workers and
employees, between businesses, or between landlords and renters, for
instance — but the High Court found that the rabbinic judges did not
have legal authority to do so and they were stripped of that power.
Currently, rabbinic judges are limited to overseeing marriage and
divorce proceedings for all Jewish Israelis, as well as certain issues
dealing with conversions, and occasionally with wills and inheritances.
Private rabbinic courts could still hear civil cases if both parties
agreed.The bill that was supported by the Shas party, though officially
put forward by Gafni, would restore the power of state-run rabbinic
courts to adjudicate civil matters, provided both sides agree.The
proposal has greater support than the hametz law, including from the
opposition, but faces significant criticism from religious pluralism
groups and organizations that represent so-called “chained” women, whose
husbands refuse to grant them a religious divorce, also known as a get,
and are thus left unable to remarry or otherwise move on with their
lives.In a joint letter, nine religious advocacy groups — ITIM, Mavoi
Satum, Center for Women’s Justice, the Masorti Movement, Ne’emanei Torah
Va’Avodah, Chupot, Kolech, the Schechter Institute’s Center for Women
in Jewish Law, and Bar Ilan University’s Rackman Center for the
Advancement of the Status of Women — came out strongly against the
proposal, warning that the rabbinic courts are undemocratic and that
there is no way to ensure that both sides had truly agreed to having
rabbinic judges rule on a case.“There is concern that in many cases, the
weaker of the parties, particularly women, will be forced to agree to
arbitration,” they wrote.In their letter, addressed to the Ministerial
Committee for Legislation, the organizations noted that currently only
men can serve as rabbinic judges and that they are not committed to
modern concepts of justice and fairness.“Please recall that Torah law as
it is implemented by state-run rabbinic courts today is discriminatory
against and problematic for women and others,” they wrote.This is
particularly true in the case of divorce, where a husband must agree to
give a religious divorce or else his wife will never be able to remarry,
whereas a man can be given special dispensation to remarry even if his
wife refuses to accept a divorce.In light of this power disparity, men
can use the threat of withholding a religious divorce to extort better
divorce conditions, such as not having to pay alimony or child support
or forcing women to give up their rights to shared property. This kind
of maneuvering is far more difficult to do in civil courts than in
religious ones.“We can say almost certainly that expanding the powers of
rabbinic courts will put yet another powerful weapon in the hands of
husbands, who will have support from rabbinic courts to demand their
case be arbitrated according to Torah law as a reasonable and even
desirable condition for divorce,” the organizations wrote.
Netanyahu
says Ben Gvir to chair task force on Palestinian incitement to
terror-Following deadly attacks in Jerusalem, PM says he and police
minister have agreed to form a panel ‘to fight against those inciting
acts of murder against us’By ToI Staff-19 February 2023, 3:19 pm
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday announced plans to form a
“special task force” to combat Palestinian incitement to terror,
following several recent deadly terror attacks in Jerusalem.Speaking at
the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said he’d agreed on
the formation of the panel over the weekend with National Security
Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who will chair the task force.“We are working
with double the vigor against incitement,” Netanyahu said, adding the
body will “fight against those inciting murderous acts against
us.”Netanyahu said Ben Gvir “will receive reinforcements of
investigators, police officers and prosecutors,” with the work to be
coordinated with the Shin Bet security agency, the military and the
National Cyber Directorate.The premier did not specify when the task
force would be formally set up and begin its work.Ben Gvir, whose
ministry is in charge of police, put out a tweet confirming he will lead
the panel, without offering further details. Ben Gvir has been
convicted in the past of incitement against Arabs.The announcement came
as Ben Gvir, whose ministry is in charge of police, has pushed for a
crackdown in East Jerusalem as a response to terror attacks in the
capital over the past month, which have claimed eleven lives.Members of
his ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party have joined in the calls for
harsher measures, with one lawmaker on Thursday urging a total ban on
the TikTok application in East Jerusalem for allegedly fueling
incitement to terror.However, the calls to ramp up operations have been
resisted by security brass, including Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai,
who has been wrangling with Ben Gvir regarding the extent of the
minister’s powers over the force.In a television interview Saturday,
Shabtai insisted the current operations in East Jerusalem “surgically”
target suspects and that police were not interested in collective
punishment.“There are more than a few warnings of attacks. In recent
weeks we’ve seen a tangible increase in the number of warnings. Our
concern is the unknown — lone-wolf attackers. I wouldn’t call the
situation now an intifada, but there is an escalation,” Shabtai told
Channel 12 news.Last week, Channel 13 reported that Shin Bet chief Ronen
Bar had warned Ben Gvir the ongoing crackdown was likely to incite
further violence.“Your activity is creating a feeling of collective
harassment. This is agitating [East] Jerusalem and may cause a broad
flare-up at this sensitive time,” Bar told Ben Gvir, according to the
report Wednesday.Ben Gvir reportedly dismissed Bar’s warnings and
retorted that the methods Bar has used in the past had not brought
security.Measures taken so far by Ben Gvir have disrupted the lives of
some 10,000 East Jerusalem residents, with 100 Palestinians arrested or
detained by police, the report said. In addition, 500 parking tickets or
traffic citations have been handed out and seven illegally constructed
buildings destroyed. Ben Gvir had wanted to raze more but he was held
back by Netanyahu, it said.In response to the crackdown, Palestinian
activists in East Jerusalem called for a general strike and civil
disobedience on Sunday.
North Korea tests ICBM, warns US and
South Korea of more powerful steps-Pyongyang says launch of Hwasong-15
missile demonstrates country’s efforts to ‘turn its capacity of fatal
nuclear counterattack on hostile forces’By Hyung-Jin Kim-19 February
2023, 2:02 pm
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Sunday
its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test was meant to further
bolster its “fatal” nuclear attack capacity against its rivals, as it
threatened additional powerful steps in response to the upcoming
military training between the United States and South Korea.The United
States responded by flying long-range supersonic bombers later Sunday
for a joint exercise with South Korean warplanes in a demonstration of
strength against North Korea.Saturday’s ICBM test, the North’s first
missile test since January 1, signals its leader Kim Jong Un is using
his rivals’ drills as a chance to expand his country’s nuclear arsenal
to get the upper hand in future dealings with the United States. An
expert says North Korea may seek to hold regular operational exercises
involving its ICBMs.North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency
said its launch of the Hwasong-15 ICBM was organized “suddenly” without
prior notice at Kim’s direct order.KCNA said the launch was designed to
verify the weapon’s reliability and the combat readiness of the
country’s nuclear force. It said the missile was fired at a high angle
and reached a maximum altitude of about 5,770 kilometers (3,585 miles),
flying a distance of about 990 kilometers (615 miles) for 67 minutes
before accurately hitting a pre-set area in the waters between the
Korean Peninsula and Japan.The steep-angle launch was apparently to
avoid neighboring countries. The flight details reported by North Korea,
which roughly matched the launch information previously assessed by its
neighbors, show the weapon is theoretically capable of reaching the
mainland US if fired at a standard trajectory.The Hwasong-15 launch
demonstrated the North’s “powerful physical nuclear deterrent” and its
efforts to “turn its capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the
hostile forces” into an extremely strong one that cannot be countered,
KCNA said.Whether North Korea has a functioning nuclear-tipped ICBM is
still a source of outside debate, as some experts say the North hasn’t
mastered a way to protect warheads from the severe conditions of
atmospheric reentry. The North says it has acquired such a
technology.The Hwasong-15 is one of North Korea’s three existing ICBMs,
all of which use liquid propellants that require pre-launch injections
and cannot remain fueled for extended periods. The North is pushing to
build a solid-fueled ICBM, which would be more mobile and harder to
detect before its launch.“Kim Jong Un has likely determined that the
technical reliability of the country’s liquid propellant ICBM force has
been sufficiently tested and evaluated to now allow for regular
operational exercises of this kind,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Chang Young-keun, a
missile expert at Korea Aerospace University in South Korea, said that
North Korea appeared to have launched an upgraded version of the
Hwasong-15 ICBM. Chang said the information provided by North Korea
showed the missile will likely have a longer potential range than the
standard Hwasong-15.Later Sunday, the US sent B-1B bombers streaking
over the Korean Peninsula to train with South Korean and US fighter
jets, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It said Sunday’s
training reaffirmed Washington’s “iron-clad” security commitment to
South Korea.North Korea is sensitive to the deployment of US B-1B
bombers, which are capable of carrying a huge payload of conventional
weapons.The North’s launch came a day after it vowed an
“unprecedentedly” strong response over a series of military drills that
Seoul and Washington plan in coming weeks.In a statement Sunday, Kim Yo
Jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong Un, accused South Korea and the
US of “openly showing their dangerous greed and attempt to gain the
military upper hand and predominant position in the Korean Peninsula.”“I
warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take
corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against
its every move hostile to us,” she said.North Korea has steadfastly
slammed regular South Korea-US military drills as an invasion rehearsal
though the allies say their exercises are defensive in nature.“By now,
we know that any action taken by the US and South Korea — however
justified from the vantage point of defense and deterrence against
(North Korea’s) reckless behavior — will be construed and protested as
an act of hostility by North Korea,” said Soo Kim, a security analyst at
the California-based RAND Corporation. “There will always be fodder for
(Kim Jong Un’s) weapons provocations.”“With nuclear weapons in tow and
having mastered the art of coercion and bullying, Kim does not need
‘self-defense.’ But pitting the US and South Korea as the aggressors
allows Kim to justify his weapons development,” Soo Kim said.US National
Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the US will take all
necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and
South Korea and Japan. South Korea’s presidential National Security
Council said it will seek to strengthen its “overwhelming response
capacity” against potential North Korean aggression based on the
military alliance with the United States.The South Korean and US
militaries plan to hold a table-top exercise this week to hone a joint
response to a potential use of nuclear weapons by North Korea. The
allies are also to conduct another joint computer simulated exercise and
field training in March.The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan,
meeting on the sidelines of a security conference in Germany on
Saturday, agreed to boost a trilateral cooperation involving the United
States and exchanged in-depth views on the issue of Japan’s colonial-era
mobilization of forced Korean laborers — a key sticking point in
efforts to improve their ties, according to Seoul’s Foreign
Ministry.South Korea and Japan are both key US allies but often spat
over issues stemming from Tokyo’s 1910-45 colonial occupation of the
Korean Peninsula. But North Korea’s recent missile testing spree is
pushing the two countries to explore how to reinforce their security
cooperation.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and
there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines
and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE
SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great
signs shall there be from heaven.
REVELATION 11:11-14
11 And
after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into
them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them
which saw them.
12 And they(ELIJSH-MOSES) heard a great voice from
heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.(REV 4:1 WE KNOW IS THE RAPTURE
FOR SURE) And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies
beheld them.(RAPTURED)
13 And the same hour was there a great
earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake
were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and
gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
REVELATION 16:18-20
18
And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a
great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so
mighty an earthquake, and so great.
19 And the great city (JERUSALEM)
was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and
great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup
of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
GENESIS 6:11-13
11
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the
earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Quake death toll in Turkey and Syria rises to almost 47,000-Posted : 2023-02-20 14:09
The
number killed in Turkey by the February 6 earthquake rose to 41,020
late on Sunday, the Anadolu news agency reported on the basis of
information from the country's AFAD disaster authority.The new figure
pushed the total death toll to 47,000, including the 5,900 reported in
Syria. The Syrian figures are, however, not being updated as frequently
as the Turkish.Search and rescue operations in the region along the
Turkey-Syria border region have almost all ended, as rescuers move on to
retrieve bodies from under the rubble.Missions to recover people alive
have officially ended in nine quake-hit provinces, except Kahramanmara?
and Hatay, the head of the disaster authority AFAD, Yunus Sezer, told
reporters in Ankara on Sunday.According to the United Nations, 8.8
million people have been affected by the disaster in Syria."[The]
majority [is] anticipated to need some form of humanitarian assistance,"
U.N. Deputy Syria Representative Najat Rochdi wrote on Twitter on
Sunday. "The U.N. is fully committed to doing more to help all Syrians,"
she said.Activists and aid workers in rebel-held areas in north-western
Syria have complained of a lack of U.N. assistance in the days
following the February 6 quakes.So far, more than 140 trucks carrying
U.N. aid have travelled from Turkey to rebel-held north-western Syria
since the disaster, where more than 9,000 buildings were completely or
partially destroyed, causing at least 11,000 people to lose their
homes.According to the U.N., the most urgent needs of those affected now
include shelter such as tents.Some 600 schools have been destroyed in
Syria, Yasmine Sherif, director of the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) U.N.
fund, told Al-Jazeera. The fund is distributing $7 million in emergency
aid.The first 7.7-magnitude quake struck Turkey and Syria in the early
hours of February 6; another large tremor hit at noon that day and there
have been more than 6,000 aftershocks, disaster authority AFAD said.The
devastating earthquake destroyed or damaged around 105,000 buildings
and left tens of thousands homeless in south-eastern Turkey.More than
1.2 million people are believed to have been evacuated from the
south-eastern Turkey disaster zone. Over 1 million locals are currently
living out of temporary shelters in quake-hit provinces, according to
AFAD.To help victims, the Turkish government called on property owners
to provide housing for the earthquake victims and for those who don't
own property to donate money.Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken arrived in Turkey's southern Adana province on Sunday for his
2-day visit, state broadcaster TRT reported.In his first ever visit to
Turkey as secretary of state, Blinken met quake victims and held talks
with Turkish officials over U.S.?quake aid and the proposed NATO
expansion to include Sweden and Finland, among other topics.The U.S.
State Department simultaneously announced an increase in U.S. aid to
$185 million. (DPA)
Earthquake sends tremors through Turkey’s
already fragile economy-On top of existing pledges, President Erdogan
will be forced to find up to $84 billion ahead of May 14 election to
finance rebuilding of 11 provinces flattened by quake-By AFP-19 February
2023, 9:00 am
ISTANBUL — Turkey was already battling runaway
inflation and relying on rich allies for funding to keep its economy
afloat when a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands, razed entire
cities and left millions needing urgent help.Now, it must pour billions
of dollars into rebuilding 11 southeastern provinces flattened by the
February 6 tremor — the worst disaster of its post-Ottoman history.That
money will have to come on top of the billions of dollars in election
promises that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made in the run-up to
crucial polls still tentatively planned for May 14.All this cash could
turbo-charge consumer spending and industrial production — two key
indicators of economic growth.The problem for Erdogan, however, is that
Turkey is very short on funds.The central bank’s vanishing coffers have
been replenished by assistance from Russia and oil-rich Gulf states,
which has helped Turkey spend tens of billions of dollars propping up
the lira in the past few years.But economists believe that money is only
sufficient to keep Turkey’s finances in order — and the troubled lira
from collapsing — until the May polls.Now, Erdogan must repair some
$84.1 billion in quake damage, according to an estimate from a prominent
business group.Other experts’ estimates are more conservative, putting
the total closer to $10 billion. Reconstruction boost-With elections in
mind, Erdogan has already promised to provide new homes to the millions
affected within a year.Should he find the cash, leaning heavily again on
foreign donors, Erdogan will need to allocate much of it to the
construction sector to rebuild parts of Turkey from the ground
up.Although contractors are now being blamed for following lax standards
that allowed so many buildings to crumble, Erdogan relied on the sector
to modernize much of the country with airports, roads and
hospitals.“The boost to output from reconstruction activities may
largely offset the negative impact of the disruption to economic
activity,” the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
said.For the overall economy, at least, there are glimmers of hope.The
area affected is one of Turkey’s least developed, contributing only nine
percent to gross domestic product (GDP).But Turkey’s agricultural
production could take a hit.Unay Tamgac, associate professor of
economics at Ankara’s TOBB ETU University, said the region creates 14.3%
of Turkey’s total agriculture, fishing and forestry output.The region
is a global exporter of food such as apricots, she added, warning there
could be a knock-on effect on prices.The UN’s Food and Agriculture
Organisation has warned of disruptions to basic food production in
Turkey and Syria.Better than 1999? The quake also damaged energy
facilities, infrastructure, transportation, irrigation and logistics,
added Tamgac.Some look back to history for guidance.Residents support a
woman in front of a destroyed building in Duzce, the epicenter of the 12
November 1999 earthquake, measuring 7.2 on the open-ended Richter
scale, that shook northwestern Turkey, killing at least 452 people and
injuring another 2,300. (Manoocher Deghati/AFP)-Mahmoud Mohieldin, an
executive director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said the
7.8-magnitude tremor could hurt the economy less than a 7.6-magnitude
quake in 1999, which claimed more than 17,000 lives.An IMF spokesperson
later said Mohieldin was speaking in a private capacity and not
representing the fund’s official view.The Turkish economy weakened by
around 0.5 to 1.0% of GDP in 1999. But that tremor hit the country’s
industrial heartland — including economic powerhouse Istanbul.The
economy quickly rebounded, however, growing by 1.5% of GDP in 2000
thanks to reconstruction efforts, the EBRD said.Last week’s quake also
“did not affect areas farther west favored by foreign tourists, who have
become one of Turkey’s most important sources of foreign exchange,”
Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst at Teneo consultancy, said in a
note.Headwinds-The focus, then, is where Erdogan will get the cash to
spend on rebuilding.“It’s clear there will be a need for foreign
currency,” said Baki Demirel, associate professor of economy at Yalova
University, since Turkey will now import more.Turkey’s sovereign debt
levels are relatively low, meaning the government has some leeway to
issue long-term debt.On the downside, foreign investors have shunned
Turkey because of Erdogan’s unorthodox economic views, which include an
ill-fated attempt to fight inflation by slashing interest rates.When the
quake hit, Turkey’s annual inflation rate had slowed from a two-decade
high of 85% last year to 58%.With all the headwinds, economists agree
the economy will stall in the coming year.“Despite the uncertainty and
different factors at play, such as global economic conditions and
internal political expectations, the Turkish economy is likely to
stagnate or grow below its natural rate,” economist Murat Kubilay wrote
in a note online.
How Dangerous Was the Ohio Chemical Train Derailment? By The Conversation-Updated Feb 19, 2023 at 7:58pm
U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Several cars that contained hazardous
chemicals burned after the February 3, 2023, derailment.Headaches and
lingering chemical smells from a fiery train derailment in East
Palestine, Ohio, have left residents worried about their air and water –
and misinformation on social media hasn’t helped.State officials
offered more details of the cleanup process and a timeline of the
environmental disaster during a news conference on Feb. 14, 2023. Nearly
a dozen cars carrying chemicals, including vinyl chloride, a
carcinogen, derailed on the evening of Feb. 3, and fire from the site
sent up acrid black smoke. Officials said they had tested over 400
nearby homes for contamination and were tracking a plume of spilled
chemicals that had killed 3,500 fish in streams and reached the Ohio
River.However, the slow release of information after the derailment has
left many questions unanswered about the risks and longer-term impact.
We put five questions about the chemical releases to Andrew Whelton, an
environmental engineer who investigates chemical risks during
disasters.Let’s start with what was in the train cars. What are the most
concerning chemicals for human health and the environment long term,
and what’s known so far about the impact? The main concerns now are the
contamination of homes, soil and water, primarily from volatile organic
compounds and semivolatile organic compounds, known as VOCs and
SVOCs.The train had nearly a dozen cars with vinyl chloride and other
materials, such as ethylhexyl acrylate and butyl acrylate. These
chemicals have varying levels of toxicity and different fates in soil
and groundwater. Officials have detected some of those chemicals in the
nearby waterway and particulate matter in the air from the fire. But so
far, the fate of many of the chemicals is not known. A variety of other
materials were also released, but discussion about those chemicals has
been limited.State officials disclosed that a plume of contamination
released into the nearby creek had made its way into the Ohio River.
Other cities get their drinking water from the river, and were warned
about the risk. The farther this plume moves downstream, the less
concentrated the chemical will be in water, posing less of a risk.Ohio
train derailment prompts evacuations, uncertainty On Feb. 3, a train
operated by Norfolk Southern derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Ten of
the cars carried hazardous materials, according to the rail operator.
"This town was nuked by chemicals. And it was all to get the railroad
going," says Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist.Long term,
the greatest risk is closest to the derailment location. And again,
there’s limited information about what chemicals are present – or were
created through chemical reactions during the fire.It isn’t clear yet
how much went into storm drains, was flushed down the streams or may
have settled to the bottom of waterways.There was also a lot of
combusted particulate matter. The black smoke is a clear indication.
It’s unclear how much was diluted in the air or fell to the ground.How
long can these chemicals linger in soil and water, and what’s their
potential long-term risk to humans and wildlife? The heavier the
chemical, often the slower it degrades and the more likely it is to
stick to soil. These compounds can remain for years if left
unaddressed.After the Kalamazoo River oil pipeline break in Michigan in
2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency excavated a tributary
where the oil settled. We’ve also seen from oil spills on the coasts of
Alaska and Alabama that oil chemicals can find their way into soil if it
isn’t remediated.The long-term impact in Ohio will depend in part on
how fast – and thoroughly – cleanup occurs.If the heavily contaminated
soils and liquids are excavated and removed, the long-term impacts can
be reduced. But the longer removal takes, the farther the contamination
can spread. It’s in everyone’s best interest to clean this up as soon as
possible and before the region gets rain.Booms in a nearby stream have
been deployed to capture chemicals. Air-stripping devices have been
deployed to remove chemicals from the waterways. Air stripping causes
the light chemicals to leave the water and enter air. This is a common
treatment technique and was used after an 2015 oil spill in the
Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana.At the derailment site in Ohio,
workers are already removing contaminated soil as deep as 7 feet (about
2 meters) near where the rail cars burned.Some of the train cars were
intentionally drained and the chemicals set on fire to eliminate them.
That fire had thick black smoke. What does that tell you about the
chemicals and longer-term risks? Incineration is one way we dispose of
hazardous chemicals, but incomplete chemical destruction creates a host
of byproducts. Chemicals can be destroyed when heated to extremely high
temperatures so they burn thoroughly.The black smoke plume you saw on TV
was incomplete combustion. A number of other chemicals were created.
Officials don’t necessarily know what these were or where they went
until they test for them.We know ash can pose health risks, which is why
we test inside homes after wildfires where structures burn. This is one
reason the state’s health director told residents with private wells
near and downwind of the derailment to use bottled water until they can
have their wells tested.The EPA has been screening homes near the
derailment for indoor air-quality concerns. How do these chemicals get
into homes and what happens to them in enclosed spaces? Homes are not
airtight, and sometimes dust and other materials get in. It might be
through an open door or a window sill. Sometimes people track it in.So
far, the U.S. EPA has reported no evidence of high levels of vinyl
chloride or hydrogen chloride in the 400 or so homes tested. But full
transparency has been lacking. Just because an agency is doing testing
doesn’t mean it is testing for what it needs to test for.Media reports
talk about four or five chemicals, but the manifest from Norfolk
Southern also listed a bunch of other materials in tanks that burned.
All those materials create potentially hundreds to thousands of VOCs and
SVOCs.Are government officials testing for everything they should?
People in the community have reported headaches, which can be caused by
VOCs and other chemicals. They’re understandably concerned.Ohio and
federal officials need to better communicate what they’re doing, why,
and what they plan to do. It’s unclear what questions they are trying to
answer. For a disaster this serious, little testing information has
been shared.In the absence of this transparency, misinformation is
filling that void. From a homeowner’s perspective, it’s hard to
understand the true risk if the data is not shared.The Conversation-By
Andrew J. Whelton, Professor of Civil, Environmental & Ecological
Engineering, Director of the Healthy Plumbing Consortium and Center for
Plumbing Safety, Purdue University-This article is republished from The
Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original
article.
What to Know About the Ohio Train Derailment and
Chemical Spill: A Timeline of Events-Abigail Adams-Fri, February 17,
2023 at 12:28 p.m. EST
What to Know About the Ohio Train
Derailment and Chemical Spill: A Timeline of Events-It has been two
weeks since a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio,
leaving chaos in its wake.The train was pulling 150 cars through the
village, located about 50 miles from Pittsburgh and home to over 4,700,
on the morning of Feb. 3 when it left the rails and toppled over,
spilling numerous dangerous chemicals as a result.The Feb. 3 derailment
resulted in what officials called a "controlled release" of chemicals in
hopes of avoiding further disaster, per The Washington Post.Since then,
concerning signs of contamination have cropped up for miles, including
dead animals such as fish and chickens, sick pets, and seemingly
contaminated waterways, according to CBS News. Various health problems
have been reported in those close to the contamination site, as
well.However, local officials continue to insist that the air quality in
and around the village is fine and the municipal water, which the
majority of residents rely on, "is safe to drink", the outlet reported.
Those who get their water from private wells are being encouraged to
schedule testing and use bottled water until the results are in,
according to the Ohio Department of Health.Multiple lawsuits have
already been filed in connection with the disaster, claiming Norfolk
Southern displayed negligence and carelessness in connection to the
derailment, according to Ohio newspaper The Repository.Attorney Gary
Corroto, with the Canton-Akron firm Tzangas Plakas Mannos, told the
newspaper, "We don't believe we've been getting the full
information."Here is a look at how the situation has unfolded so
far:Train Derails in East Palestine-A train carrying "hazardous
materials" derailed in East Palestine, Ohio around 9 a.m. local time on
Feb. 3, according to town officials and the National Transportation
Safety Board.The NTSB said 38 rail cars derailed, including 11 of the 20
"hazardous material cars" attached to the train. Twelve other cars were
damaged, and a large fire ensued.Evacuation orders issued for everyone
within a one-mile radius of the derailment, town officials
said.Officials Say Air and Water Are Safe, Despite Burning Vinyl
Chloride-Village officials said in a statement on Feb. 4 that hazmat
teams had not detected harmful chemicals in the air. They also claimed
that the water is safe to drink, despite "low pressure or
discoloration," which they attributed to "the high usage fighting the
railroad fire."Mayor Trent Conaway declared a state of emergency for the
Village of East Palestine the morning following the derailment. Later
that day, town officials revealed that vinyl chloride was burning as a
result of the wreck. The fire wasn't extinguished until Feb. 8, per
NPR.Norfolk Southern also established a Family Assistance Center to help
support the community, according to a company press release.Local
Officials Reveal Spill in Sulphur Run-Village officials continued to
urge locals that the water was safe, as did the Columbiana County
Emergency Management Agency.At the same time, Columbiana County EMA said
on Feb. 5 that "some of the substances associated with the derailment
may have spilled into Sulphur Run."At a news briefing that day, an NTSB
official said that the cause of the derailment appeared to be caused by a
mechanical problem, according to The Washington Post. A preliminary
report will be released in March.The agency, which said there's no
evidence that the train was purposefully derailed, said that before the
emergency brake went on, crew members received an alarm alerting them to
the issue, the newspaper reported.Officials Conduct "Controlled
Release" Of Chemicals-The Ohio EMA announced that the railroad had
conducted a "controlled release" to avoid "a possible explosion"
involving the hazardous materials that were carried by the train. This
was done on Nov. 6, per NPR."The risk of the car exploding was described
to me as high," Gov. DeWine said at a press conference, according to
the outlet.Per the Ohio EMA statement, the release sent "toxic and
potentially deadly fumes" up into the air.With a drone shows portions of
a Norfolk and Southern freight train that derailed Friday night in East
Palestine, Ohio are still on fire at mid-day Train Derailment Ohio,
East Palestine, United States - 04 Feb 2023-Evacuation Order Lifted
Residents of East Palestine who evacuated were allowed to return home on
Feb. 8. At the time, Gov. DeWine said air samples had "consistently
showed readings" below what is required for safety screenings.That same
day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that
spilled materials were found in Sulphur Run."Oily product was found
leaking from a tank car and pooling on to the soil," the agency said.
"Norfolk Southern was notified of the spill and began removing the
product using a vacuum truck."Ohio EPA Reveals More Leaked Chemicals-On
Feb. 10, the Ohio EPA released a work plan to address the derailment,
which revealed more chemicals that were on the train that left the
tracks.In addition to the vinyl chloride butyl acrylate that were
previously disclosed, the agency said four more chemicals — ethylene
glycol, monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene — were in
some of the cars.Water sampling taken on Feb. 10 showed "very low
levels" of butyl acylate and ethyl hexyl acrylate in Leslie Run,
according to the agency."A much lower level" of ethyl hexyl acrylate was
found in North Fork Little Beaver Creek.U.S. EPA Scolds Norfolk
Southern For Improper Disposal-The U.S. EPA sent a letter to Norfolk
Southern, informing the company that it had failed to properly dispose
of contaminated soil after the derailment, CBS affiliate WKBN-TV
reported on Feb. 13.The letter said five cars of vinyl chloride "were
intentionally breached," and that the chemical "was diverted to an
excavated trench" before it was burned off.Additionally, the EPA said
areas of contaminated soil and liquids were "potentially covered and/or
filled" while the rail line was reconstructed, including portions of the
trench that was used to burn the vinyl chloride.On Feb. 13, Norfolk
Southern announced that more than $1 million had been "distributed
directly to families to cover costs related to the evacuation."East
Palestine resident Ben Ratner, a 37-year-old father of four who lives
less than a mile from the site of the derailment, spent eight days
living in an Airbnb property before finally returning home three days
after the evacuation order was finally lifted."Once we got back, we did a
lot of cleaning and let the house air out, but all those chemicals that
burned create byproducts, like hydrochloric acid, in the form of a film
that's been left on the surfaces of our homes," Ratner told PEOPLE. He
added he's not only worried about the long-term health impacts of the
disaster but fears how it will affect the economy of his community."We
still need answers about how to keep our families safe while also
maintaining some sort of a regular existence for our kids," he
said.Threat From Vinyl Chloride Fire "No Longer Exists," U.S. EPA
Says-The U.S. EPA announced on Feb. 14 that it had "not detected any
levels of health concern in the community that are attributed to the
train derailment" while monitoring the air.Additionally, the agency said
vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride were not detected in nearly 400
homes tested for the chemicals."The threat of vinyl chloride fire
producing phosgene and hydrogen chloride no longer exists," the EPA said
on its site.In a separate announcement, Norfolk Southern revealed it
had created "a $1 million charitable fund" for those impacted by the
derailment in East Palestine.Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan
Shaw also said the company is "cleaning up the site in an
environmentally responsible way."Residents of East Palestine gathered at
the local high school on Wednesday for a meeting with officials
handling the train derailment.Norfolk Southern was originally expected
to participate, but ultimately backed out at the last second, according
to CNN and the Cincinnati Enquirer."Unfortunately, after consulting with
community leaders, we have become increasingly concerned about the
growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community
around this event stemming from the increasing likelihood of the
participation of outside parties," the company said, according to CBS
affiliate WBNS-TV.At the meeting, Mayor Conaway said he is "just as
frustrated" as everyone else. "I'm trying to get answers," he said, per
the Enquirer. "I cannot force them to be here."'No Water Quality
Concerns' in East Palestine Municipal Well, U.S. EPA Says-The U.S. EPA
announced Thursday that test results from the village's municipal well
"showed no water quality concerns.""The municipal wells are at least 56
feet below the surface and are covered by a solid steel casing that
protects the water from contamination," Gov. DeWine wrote in a press
release the previous day. "Before drinking water is made available to
the public, water from these five wells is combined at the water
treatment plant and treated."The Ohio Department of Health encouraged
residents with private wells to used bottled water until their well
water tests are completed, according to the agency.Also on Thursday,
Norfolk Southern's CEO shared a letter with the community of East
Palestine."When I visited East Palestine last week, you told me how the
train derailment has upended your lives and how concerned you are about
the safety of your air, water, and land," Shaw wrote. "Many of you have
also reached out to Norfolk Southern to share your fears, your anger,
and your frustration."He added, "I hear you. We hear you."The Biden
administration has said they will "hold Norfolk Southern accountable"
for the derailment."We understand the residents are concerned as they
should be ... and we're going to try to figure out an answer," White
House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a briefing on Thursday,
according to Axois.
